Feb 20, 2014
Rainbow Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin tells the story of seven young men who are sent to a juvie prison post-World War Two in Japan. They’re all sent there for very different reasons, and have conflicting personalities, but not before long they become something like brothers. I would relate this anime to the American novel Holes (1998) by Louis Sachar turned movie (2003) starring Shia LaBeouf. The stories are a like in which a boy-- in Rainbow’s case seven boys-- are sent to a juvenile detention facility to serve time for committing a crime. The major difference is that Rainbow is a much more mature story
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dealing with controversial and rather disturbing issues. It’s Holes on crack dealing with murder, rape, pedophilia and some extreme teenage angst.
Story 9/10
Like a lot of 26 episode anime, this story holds two arcs. The first arc is meeting the boys on their way to the juvenile hall, watching them become friends, and creating a plan for escape. The arc ends after a major character’s death. The second arc focuses on the boys return to society after serving their sentences. The second arc isn’t as emotional in some ways. Even the way the episodes are created feel different because there’s a lot more comic relief, but even that is scarce, and some of the episodes aren’t as gripping as the first arc episodes. In all honesty, some feel like filler material with nothing to really add to the main story.
Characters 9.5/10
So the characters are brilliant because they’re hopelessly flawed. We have some clichés here with the likable protagonist who was jailed by a corrupted law, the so-cool-nobody-can-touch-him older brother figure An-chan (a nickname taken from the Japanese word Aniki meaning older brother in a gangster sort of way), the simpleton, the weakling, the tough guy, the snitch (who’s also the glasses character), and the (sort of) comic relief. Together they make a perfect cast that keeps the story interesting.
One thing about the “bad guy” characters is that you can immediately spot them because they’re unpleasant to look at. It’s like their appearance shows how rotten they are on the outside, and they make you cringe at the memory of them.
Art 10/10
The art is beautiful in this. From the opening and ending song to everything in between. Rainbow was drawn in a less anime type style and more in a realistic way. Besides the extremely unattractive bad guy characters (some of which I thought resembled titans from Attack on the Titans more so than humans) , the character were so well animated they seemed like they were based off real people.
Music 10/10
Oh, the music. The beginning song is "We're not alone" by Japanese rock band coldrain. It’s sung entirely with English lyrics and goes with the raw feeling and emotions in the show. The ending song “A Far Off Distance”, also by a Japanese rock band called Galneryus is a more mellow song which captures the melancholy feelings of the show. The background music of the show of course makes scenes more emotional and beautiful.
I would not recommend this show if you do not like, or can’t handle, depressing, unnerving, or all around disturbing things. It is a mature show much like Elfen Lied that deals with serious issues and the darkest of human flaws.
However if you’re curious, I highly recommend you watch this amazing story. You will not be disappointed. It available on the Funimation YouTube channel.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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